What an extraordinary moment it was to be part of the Healing nature connection session at Cubbon park. We strongly connected to nature, bonded with each other and had a moving experience. So what was it like for me, I loved the part of ‘just being’. Wearing my track pants, sneakers, no make-up and to facilitate like that felt like such a natural flow, unlike corporate program facilitations. I was just ‘me’ and I loved it. As we started the work, I began realizing I actually wasn’t the facilitator at all, nature was! She was carrying on the work with each of us. ..gently..in a way each of us understood her. Nature sure turned out to be a highly individually customized facilitator :). Ok so back to what it was for me..
So as I was connecting with a tree, I got increasingly uncomfortable with a bunch of loud speaking gardeners nearby, smoking and staring at us. I couldn’t concentrate on the tree I was connecting with. And as instantly as that feeling of uneasiness welled up, the tree also told me to look behind me..and I saw many people happily playing with their dogs, kids running around, couples catching their moment of sweet whispers, carpet of lush green grass, a group of youngsters happily playing cricket, smell of fresh rain and many other things. And lo behold, I didn’t even hear the loud chatter or staring of those men on the other side. It almost got drowned in the entire view of the park. Merged in the background..visible yet invisible. A sense of calmness flowed through me and I sat down beside the tree, slowly slumped into the cotton sheet we had laid on the grass ..and soon I lay on it, looking up at the beautiful long branches of the tree that brought me a sense of safety. And before I knew it, I slipped into a sweet nap..almost like a baby dozing off in a mother’s lap. Sleep is very dear to me and it has to be more than an hour or a max of 8 hours. I could never do these so called power naps of 10-15 mins… nope it never worked for me!! And I would be highly jealous of people like my husband who could sleep for 10 mins with ease and wake up fresh. A few mins of sleep would always end up giving me a headache and a sense of incompleteness. But this nap under the tree-oh my, it was heavenly! I don’t know if it was for a few seconds or a few minutes but I woke up so refreshed that it carried on through out the week. A slow rejuvenation that feels weird but also grounding. As I write this blog I realized throughout the week I haven’t felt the urgent feel of reaching out to my mobile every now and then to check Whatsapp and Facebook, neither felt the necessity to reply to every comment I read online. There is a sense of ease and calmness..and yet I got a lot done on Monday. Having had a busy week and weekend I thought I’ll take it easy on Monday but I was quite energized. Got up at 4 am as usual, I thought I won’t go for yoga but I did, thought I’ll come back and sleep but no I took my dog for a walk, thought I’ll come back and rest but instead worked, took my coaching calls, planted trees in my street etc etc..you get the drift! Usually when I feel energized, I’m almost like a headless chicken running from one place to another, multi tasking, thoughts zipping faster than the formula 1 racing cars. But this Monday’s energized was different-it was slow, calm and steady ..easily flowing from one thing to another, mind seemed stable. Hmmm I could get used to this.
Apart from this, I also had a small back muscle pull after having carried my heavy laptop throughout the previous week. And after the session, it vanished. Just like that..no ointment, no medicine, no volini! Another friend experienced something similar. She said her aches and pains had loosened up after several months. Her breathing also had become slower and deeper.
Why oh why do we not connect with nature when it can be so damn healing!!!!!!!!!!